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Geology of the Crater of Diamonds State Park and Vicinity, Pike County, Arkansas

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Geology of the Crater of Diamonds State Park and Vicinity, Pike County, Arkansas SPS-03 STATE OF ARKANSAS ARKANSAS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Bekki White, State Geologist and Director STATE PARK SERIES 03 GEOLOGY OF THE CRATER OF DIAMONDS STATE PARK AND VICINITY, PIKE COUNTY, ARKANSAS by J. M. Howard and W. D. Hanson Little Rock, Arkansas 2008 STATE OF ARKANSAS ARKANSAS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Bekki White, State Geologist and Director STATE PARK SERIES 03 GEOLOGY OF THE CRATER OF DIAMONDS STATE PARK AND VICINITY, PIKE COUNTY, ARKANSAS by J. M. Howard and W. D. Hanson Little Rock, Arkansas 2008 STATE OF ARKANSAS Mike Beebe, Governor ARKANSAS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Bekki White, State Geologist and Director COMMISSIONERS Dr. Richard Cohoon, Chairman………………………………………....Russellville William Willis, Vice Chairman…………………………………...…….Hot Springs David J. Baumgardner………………………………………….………..Little Rock Brad DeVazier…………………………………………………………..Forrest City Keith DuPriest………………………………………………………….….Magnolia Becky Keogh……………………………………………………...……..Little Rock David Lumbert…………………………………………………...………Little Rock Little Rock, Arkansas 2008 i TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..................... 1 Geology…………………………………………………………………………………………... 1 Prairie Creek Diatreme Rock Types……………………………….…………...……...………… 3 Mineralogy of Diamonds…………………….……………………………………………..……. 6 Typical shapes of Arkansas diamonds…………………………………………………………… 6 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions……………..……………………………….....……… 7 Definition of Rock Types……………………………………………………………………… 7 Formation Processes.…...…………………………………………………………….....…….. 8 Search Efforts……………...……………………………...……………………...………..…. 11 Economic Concerns…………………………………………………………………………... 11 Mineral Identifications……………………….………………………………………………. 12 Misconceptions………………………………………………………………………………. 12 References and Reading List ………………….…………………..………………………...…. 13 Alphabetical Listing of Minerals reported from the Prairie Creek Diatreme and their Geologic Associations………………………………………………………………………….…...... 14 Figures Figure 1. General location of the Crater of Diamonds State Park within Arkansas…..... 1 Figure 2 General stratigraphy of the local rock units……….………………..….......… 2 Figure 3 Map and cross-section of Prairie Creek.….................…………………….…. 3 Figure 4. Magmatic lamproite boulders on crest of Middle Hill.…..……………….… 4 Figure 5. Lamproite lapilli tuff exposed on West Hill………………………………….. 5 Figure 6. Altered lamproite breccia tuff…….…………………...………………........… 5 Figure 7. Outcrop of silica-cemented sandstone-dominated maar epiclastics…..……… 6 Figure 8. Diamond dissolution evolution…………………….…………….………....… 7 ii GEOLOGY OF THE CRATER OF DIAMONDS STATE PARK AND VICINITY, PIKE COUNTY, ARKANSAS by J. MICHAEL HOWARD AND W. D. HANSON INTRODUCTION Survey entitled “Geology of the Crater of Diamonds State Park and Vicinity, Pike The Crater of Diamonds State Park is County, Arkansas.” The reader can learn a remarkable in several ways. First, it is the lot of geology and geologic history only place in the world where anyone may pertaining to the sedimentary and igneous pay a small entrance fee, look for diamonds, rocks of the area, and specifically of the and keep what you find! It fascinates Park, from the poster and even more by geologists because the site presents a reading the contained information. The window into the geologic past and the geologic story is a fascinating one, not just earth’s mantle, a rare thing indeed. The park for geologists, but for anyone wishing to and surrounding area has a rich verbal and learn why the diamonds are present, their written history…history of the settlement of age, and the past environment that existed the region, of the discovery of diamonds, of when the diamondiferous igneous rocks the many attempts at commercial and tourist were explosively emplaced. Key questions development based on the presence of that to be answered also include what is so gemstone, and history of preservation and unusual about these rocks, why do they continued development since it became a weather so rapidly, how old are the rocks state park and, as such, public property. and the diamonds, along with many other questions. The authors hope you enjoy your travels through geologic time as we will be your guides. After the geology and mineralogy sections and before the reading list are frequently asked questions. It is hoped the answers to these questions will assist the visitor in better understanding the geology of the Park. GEOLOGY Crater of Diamonds State Park is just south of the Ouachita Mountains in Pike County, Arkansas and along the northern margin of Figure 1: General location of the Crater of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. Diamonds State Park within Arkansas. The Ouachita Mountains region is an area of This publication is written to accompany the major disturbance on the southern margin of geologic poster by the Arkansas Geological what is now called the North American 1 continent. Sediments that were deposited in Cretaceous sedimentary rocks were a deep ocean basin south of the continental deposited on the southern margin of the margin, dating from 500 to 245 million Ouachita Mountains and range in age from years ago, were shoved up and onto the 144 – 66.4 million years. They represent continent and were “welded” to the sediments that were deposited in very continental mass by the end of the shallow water on the northern margin of the mountain-building episode at the close of Cretaceous seas. The beds dip gently to the Pennsylvanian time. Since then, weathering south and now outcrop from near and erosion have taken their toll on this east- Arkadelphia in Clark County west to the west mountain chain, resulting in a subdued Arkansas-Oklahoma state border near relief relative to when it first was formed. DeQueen in Sevier County. Cretaceous rocks are displayed on the poster and chart in varying shades of green. The Cretaceous units have been eroded by local rivers and streams. Deposits of those rivers and streams during the Quaternary date from 1.6 million years ago to recent times and are displayed in shades of yellow on the poster. Both Cretaceous and Quaternary units are located within the West Gulf Coastal Plain region of Arkansas. Along this coastal margin, about 100 million years ago, several explosive events happened, resulting in the emplacement of diamond-bearing rocks that geologists term lamproite breccia and tuff as a diatreme. A diatreme is a breccia-filled volcanic pipe formed by a gaseous explosion. The source Figure 2: General stratigraphy of the local of rocks that compose the exposures of the rock units. Prairie Creek pipe, exposed on the surface at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, and the The oldest rock unit displayed on the poster other known bodies of similar igneous and on the stratigraphy chart (fig. 2) outcrops materials to the immediate northeast was the north of Murfreesboro and is named the earth’s mantle. Some field evidence Jackfork Sandstone. Its mapped extent is indicates that this pipe was emplaced on the represented by the color gray. Locally, the seaward side of the ocean-land margin, sandstone beds dip steeply to the south due perhaps only a very short distance off shore. to their distortion during the Ouachita Soon after the explosive event, magmatic orogeny (mountain building episode). lamproite, arising through the explosive Where unweathered, it has been a major vent, reached the surface and created lava- source of crushed sandstone for aggregate. filled lakes within the existing crater. 2 Afterward, geologic processes became less Prairie Creek Diatreme Rock Types catastrophic and the ongoing active cycle of deposition along the continental margin Surface exposed rock types of the diatreme, during the Cretaceous buried the volcanic may be divided into three general groups: vents. Only late in the Quaternary did the magmatic lamproite, pyroclastic lamproite, Little Missouri River erode those sediments and maar epiclastics. Magmatic lamproite capping the pipe and expose the larger pipe contains only very few micro-diamonds, to erosion (fig. 3). From field relationships whereas pyroclastic lamproite is the source with the adjacent pipes, geologists estimate of the soil from which all the diamonds are that only about 165 feet of erosion has taken recovered. The maar epiclastics are thought place on the Prairie Creek pipe since its to contain some diamonds but have not been emplacement. It is geologically remarkable tested to determine their content. Data to have some of the rock types at the Crater gathered during the 1990’s exploration work of Diamonds State Park exposed. indicates a deep weathering and alteration Worldwide, few of these types of pipes have zone of some 40 feet or more. Unaltered the upper layers of rock material preserved. rock samples are therefore unavailable by Most have suffered intensive weathering and surface sampling. deep erosion. Figure 3: Map and cross-section of Prairie Creek. Modified from Morgan, 1993. 3 Magmatic Lamproite examination of thin sections of these rocks allows further descriptive terminology such Originally termed peridotite by early as lamproite lapilli ash tuff and lamproite investigators and later hypabyssal olivine ash lapilli tuff. The soils derived from these lamproite and pyroxene (diopside) units are the source of the diamonds. These madupitic lamproite by recent workers, the units are not divided on the bedrock geology rock is a magmatic non-explosive phase map. These rocks weather rapidly because material. The rock is somewhat resistant to most of the minerals composing them weathering and consists of crystals
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